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Monday, December 21, 2015

Solstice

I'm not sure about everyone else, but the days certainly do feel short around here. Time is flying by. I can hardly believe it's December, let alone nearly Christmas. Nor can I believe that our little Bug is going to be THREE years old in three days. (Or that The Bean will be FIVE in just three weeks!) Where the time goes, I am really not sure.

The weather has been unseasonably warm. We've had only a dusting of snow. It's not what we're used to and certainly doesn't feel very Christmas-y. The kids are excited nonetheless. We've had our tree, stockings, and other seasonal decorations up since just after American Thanksgiving. There are a few gifts under the tree, taunting the children. The Bean legitimately fell onto one of his gifts and tore the paper open, though the reason he was close enough to fall onto the said gift is a little spotty. I made an effort to cut back on Christmas gifts for the kids this year. There is really very little that the need, and even their wish lists were fairly short because, really, they have most things they could want too. Being an one-income household and the crappy Canadian dollar also impacted things. That said, they will both get what they've asked for from Santa -A remote control car for The Bean (he also asked for a remote control airplane, but that is NOT happening) and a cradle for Sprout's babies (my sister mentioned a while ago that she was going to give her one, but we have since had a falling out, so I'm not sure if she will follow through. There is a back up, just in case, but if she does receive it from her Aunt she'll be getting a jewelry box from Santa, which she didn't ask for, but will be thrilled about).

We celebrated with my cousins' family on Sunday. Sprout and my one cousin's son have become quite close. They're only six months apart in age and did a few programs together this fall. Sprout often says she is going to marry him (as she says about all the people she loves most). While we don't condone incest, they are very cute together. And, as I know I've mentioned before, both our kids absolutely adore my other cousin. All that to say they enjoyed the get together. We stayed longer than we should have, and even though they were both in need of a nap, they stuck it out. We even got a cute photo of the exhausted and over-stimulated kids by the tree.

Aside from that we have been downtown to see the windows, visited Santa and had their photos taken, opened Advent calendars, been visited by St. Nicholas, done a little bit of Christmas baking (that has all been eaten) and made Christmas crafts. I don't think there's much more we've got planned in terms of Christmas activities. Mama and Mommy just have to wrap a few more gifts and get us packed up for our travels.

We're all looking forward to the holiday and to the return of longer days... even if they do sill fly by.